THE SOCIAL SECRETARY
starring Norma Talmadge
VARIETY
September 15, 1916
Norma Talmadge is the star of this Triangle-Fine Arts five-reel feature scheduled for release Sept. 17. "The Social Secretary" is a comedy drama that gives Miss Talmadge a role she can play to perfection, and the feature is one that will hold any audience from start to finish. Its plot is based on the fact that no girl who is at all attractive can expect to hold a position in New York without the "boss" trying to occupy her time after office hours, and that unless she is willing to permit the advance of her employer she is pretty sure to be fired. The stories that Mayme (Norma Talmadge) relates to her companions at her boarding house carry a decidedly humorous touch. She has lost a half a dozen jobs and is looking for another when she notes the ad of Mrs. Van Puyster (Kate Lester), a wealthy woman who wants a social secretary and insists that she must have one that is unattractive to men. Mayme disguises her charms and secures the berth. Naturally, it is only a question of time before she has Jimmie Van Puyser (Gladden James) in love with her; saves the good name of the family by rescuing the daughter from the hands of a villainous Count (Herbert Frank) and then finally is accepted by Mommer Van Puyser as being eligible as a daughter-in-law. The picture was produced under the direction of John Emerson, who turned out a feature distinctly worthwhile. There are several slight touches of detail here and there that should have been looked after more closely, but the story as a whole is so good, these can be easily overlooked.